The Rise and Decline Of Great Music

As many know, music is not nearly as great as it once was. For many this is baffling, considering the great technological upgrades. Musicians of the 1960's were much more limited in the studio. One would think that with better technology comes better music. This has obviously not been true. Today, musicians have everything they could possibly need to make amazing music. But most of them do not (in my opinion). Sure, there are some good artists today (which perhaps I will cover in a future post) but there should be many more.

Above is a graph of my opinion of the decline of great music. It started with the huge leap of popularity of rock 'n roll. Artists such as Chuck Berry came and changed everything. John Lennon once said "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Rock and roll was something new. It exemplified a young, rebellious spirit. The youth caught on and ran with this new style of music. Four of those young people that enjoyed this music would soon after change the world of music forever. We now know those four boys as "The Beatles." They easily were the greatest band of all time in my opinion. THEY were the reason that so many great bands sprouted in the 1960's. They helped many bands gain popularity, including The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, and many more. These were all bands that influenced artists. So as you can see, there became a long line of bands influencing bands. A new youth spirit started to arise.

In the late 1960's, great music was at its peak of popularity. Many used drugs, and other illegal substances such as marijuana and LSD to enhance their enjoyment of music. Many devoted their mind, body, and spirit to music. Rebellion and opposition to the Vietnam war sparked creativity and passion through music. The Monterey Pop Festival, and Woodstock were points of popularity in this musical movement. Hippies and those who enjoyed great music came to these festivals by the thousands. In Woodstock's case - hundreds of thousands. A lot of this optimistic attitude was cut off at Altamont, where a young man was beaten to death by the Hell's Angels.

Starting at this music has slowly declined. The 1970's was an era that had some good music. I suspect that this was just what was left over from the 1960's. The Beatles had broken up. The hippie movement fell apart. The war in Vietnam was over. So what became of all this? The creative and great hits that were seen only years before were becoming hard to come by. Glam rock formed. Disco formed. Great music was declining. And then a huge blow to music: The death of John Lennon. Lennon, in many ways, represented great music. It is arguable that great music died along with him.

The 1980's was a time in which the "bad" music started to take over. Glam rock and metal began to take over.

The 1990's moved slowly with great music just as the 1980's did. Grunge, metal, and alternative rock were at the top of their popularity.

Today? Great music is nearly non-existent anymore. Everything is generic pop punk, rap and pop. There are very few bands that would have survived in the 1960's.

What are your opinions? I realize that not everyone shares the opinion that music has gotten worse. Thanks for reading! This is my first blog post.

Peace.